Thursday 22 June 2017

I don’t whether I’m coming or going. I know moving is ranked right up there as one of the most stressful life events, but I’m definitely starting to feel it.

Yesterday morning Troy and I unpacked a little more at the new house, and then just shuffled furniture and rubbish around so that the spaces that we want furniture to be put in on Friday were clear. We also realised when we had unpacked all our kitchen boxes and only found one frypan and no other saucepans that we forgot to pack a cupboard. So mid-morning we both left in our separate cars- me to go to the chocolate factory and meet Catherine and Miffi, and Troy to go to our old house with a few boxes and pack up everything we’d forgotten.

It was good to see the kids again. I miss them when we’re away, and in some ways it feels weird to be setting up a new family home without my family with me. But I really think that doing the move this way was the best choice we could have made. The kids are a lot more relaxed living here at Grandma and Pop’s house and going to school pretty much like normal than they would be if they’d been in the thick of the move. Steve and Jean being so willing to help and take things on have taken a huge load of stress off Troy and I too. We’re able to coordinate all our activities so that we can all get things done that we want to get done, but also have someone there to collect the boys and get dinner and do the washing.

I decided I needed today to be a day of rest, and as I spent half of it asleep I guess it lived up to its name. I slept in, woke up with just enough time to get to Costco to collect the cake for our party on Saturday and get back for my doctors appointment. It was just to get a prescription, so I went and got that from the chemist and then came home and slept until I had to pick up Jericho and Soren from school. I was probably asleep again by 4.30, and didn’t wake up until 6.30. I was just so tired!

After tea Troy and I took the ute to Bunnings to buy a cube bookshelf setup for Nicholai’s new room. Due to the angle of his door, neither the new bookshelf I had for him or the old bookshelf he had been using could be forced into his room. And given that probably 80% of his possessions are books, I had to come up with something that could hold all his crap and also be constructed inside the room so that we didn’t have to try and get it through the door.

We had our house cleaned today, which is possibly the best moving-related money we’ve ever spent. I had thought I would do the cleaning myself, but since the power is due to be turned off tomorrow that meant I would have had to clean TODAY, and there was just no way. When just the idea of it made me sob the other day, we gave up and hired someone. Troy and I checked it out tonight, after we put the new cube flatpack boxes in the garage for the movers to move tomorrow, and it was so shiny and clean it was amazing. The stovetop no longer has all that stuff that doesn’t come off on it! (Clearly it DOES come off if you do something right). Anyway, the house is beautiful and clean enough for us to get our rental damage deposit back if it were a rental, so that’s good.

Moving day #2 tomorrow. It should be a lot quicker and easier, fingers crossed. But there is obviously not as much stuff as there was on Monday, and it’s all in the garage so they are gathering it from just the one place. I’ll go over to the house in the morning and wait while they pack, and then drive to Ballarat to open up that house for them to unpack.

Nicholai and Emma have tomorrow off school, which conveniently allowed us to schedule their dental work in the morning. They’re just getting some seals on their teeth, so it’s preventative rather than corrective. They’ll go in with Troy in the morning, and someone will bring them back here once they’re done I guess.

Saturday we’ve got our laser strike goodbye party, so I’ll have to make sure I’m back from Ballarat for that. The kids have all had a couple of friends RSVP that they’re coming, plus they’ll have their cousins there, so I think they’re all looking forward to it. At the moment, to be honest, it just feels like another thing for me to worry about, but I think it’s going to be good. And really, although I bought a goodbye cake and some bags of chips, all we have to do is show up- the party place organises everything else.

Sunday has no plans, then next week Troy has two days in the city for work, I have a doctor appointment, all the children are getting a haircut, Emmanuella has an orthodontist appointment, Jericho and Soren have a little afternoon concert, Nicholai has his LGBTetc group, Soren has a sports day, Jericho and Soren both have class parties because they’re leaving, and maybe there is hockey. Or maybe we just leave and go to our new house. Either way, it’s only about one more week and then it will be school holidays and things will finally calm down.